98 Useful Computer Shortcut Keys you must know

June 1, 2020

If you believe in Smart work than Hard work, then this article is for you. Computer has been an essential part of our daily life as most of the world is Digital now, and major works rely on it, whether it be an office or home. While everyone knows how to operate a computer, only a few know the useful computer shortcut keys that can make your work more efficient & straightforward. We often look for these useful shortcut keys that can reduce our work strain and increase our productivity, but lack of knowledge increases our efforts. So, if you also want to save your time, you can save these useful computer shortcut keys for the future.

These shortcut keys are useful in many of our daily used programs & applications like Microsoft Office. Here we have categorized them for better understanding.

Control Keys- Useful Computer Shortcut Keys

General & Most Used Computer Shortcut Keys:

Ctrl + A – Use to Select all text
Ctrl + C – Use to Copy the selected content
Ctrl + N – To Open a new page/tab
Ctrl + V – To Paste the selected content
Ctrl + W – To Close the Windows Explorer or browser
Ctrl + X – To Cut the selected content
Ctrl + Z – To Undo the last action
Ctrl + Y – To Redo the last action
Ctrl – To drag/copy the selected item
Ctrl + Shift – To create a shortcut of a selected item by dragging it
Ctrl + Shift +Esc – To Open the Task Manager
Ctrl + Shift+ Arrow Key- To highlight or Select a particular text block
Ctrl + Esc – To Display the Start menu
Ctrl + F4 – To Close the active document
Ctrl + Click on Underlined Link – Opens the link in the browser
ALT + D– To Select the address bar
Alt + Enter – To View the properties for the selected item
Alt + F4 – To Close the recent item/Program
Alt + Spacebar – To Open the shortcut menu of the active window
Alt + Tab – To Switch between the tabs
Alt + Esc – Cycle through tabs in the order they opened
Shift + Any Arrow Key- To Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document.
Shift + F10 – To Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
Delete – To Delete the content
Shift + Delete – To Delete a particular item permanently including from the Recycle Bin as well
Right arrow – Open the submenu/next menu to the right
Left arrow – Close the submenu/next menu to the left
Backspace – To push the cursor one position backward
Esc – Cancel the current task
PgUp – Move up one page at a time
PgDn (Page Down) – To Move down a page
Home – To Move to the starting of the content/document
End – To Move to the end of the content/document
Ctrl + Home – To access the first character
Ctrl + End – To access the last character

Computer Function Shortcut Keys:

F1 key – To Display Help
F2 key – To Rename a particular item
F3 key – Use to Search for a file/folder
F4 key – Display the Address bar in My Computer
F5 key – To Refresh the recent tab/window
F6 key – Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop
F7 key – To access spell check and grammar check in MS Word document, Outlook, etc
F8 key – To access Windows Safe mode/Start Menu
F9 key – To refresh a document
F10 key – To start the menu bar in the recent program/document/tab
F11 key – To Minimize or Maximize the active window
F12 key – To open the Save As Option

Windows Shortcut Keys:

Win – To Display or hide the Start screen
Win + B– To Set focus in the notification area
Win + D – To Show or hide the desktop
Win + E – To Open File Explorer
Win + H – To Open the Dictation Option
Win + I – Open the Settings
Win + K – Open the sidebar
Win + L – Lock your computer
Win + M – Minimize all windows
Win + R – Open the Run Window
Win + S – Open Search Bar
Win + T – To scroll programs on the taskbar
Win + X – Open the hidden menu
Win + F1 – To access Microsoft Windows Help Center
Win + left arrow/ Win + right arrow – Move selected tab/window to the right or left depends upon the arrow you choose
Win + Tab – Open the Task view
Win + PrtSc – To take a screenshot of the current screen.
Win + Ctrl + Left Arrow/ Right arrow – To switch between the screens of virtual desktop
Win + Ctrl + D – To Add a new virtual desktop
Win + Enter – To Open Narrator
Win + +/- – To Zoom in or out a particular item
Win + Esc – Exit Magnifier

Useful Computer Shortcut Keys in Microsoft Word:

Ctrl +B – To bold the text
Ctrl + D – To Display the Font dialogue box
Ctrl + F – To access Find Dialog Box to search a particular item
Ctrl + H – To access the Replace dialogue box
Ctrl + I – To Italicize the selected text
Ctrl + K – To Create a hyperlink
Ctrl + N – To Create a new document
Ctrl + O – To Open a new document
Ctrl + P – To give print command
Ctrl + S – To save a document
Ctrl + U – To underline the selected text
Ctrl + Right arrow – To move the cursor to the starting of the next word
Ctrl + Left arrow – To move the cursor to the starting of the previous word
Ctrl + Down arrow –To move the cursor to the starting of the next paragraph
Ctrl + Up arrow – To move the cursor to the starting of the previous paragraph

Useful Computer Shortcut Keys for Google Chrome:

If you actively use Google Chrome for your work and are not aware that there are useful computer shortcut keys for Google Chrome as well, here you can learn about them:

Ctrl + E – To access the Search bar
Ctrl + F – To Start the Find option
Ctrl + H – To Open the History bar
Ctrl + L – To Move your cursor on URL
Ctrl + N – To open New Window
Ctrl + O – To Open the Open dialog box (Google Chrome)
Ctrl + P – To access the Print dialog box
Ctrl + R – To refresh the current browser/tab
Ctrl + T – To open the New Tab
Ctrl + Shift + T – Reopen the recently closed tabs
Ctrl + Shift + I – Open the Developer Tools /Inspect element window (Google Chrome)
Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + PgDn – Jump to the next open tab
Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PgUp – Jump to the previous open tab
Ctrl + Shift + N – Open a new window in Incognito mode